1. Field
The described aspects relate to interactive workspaces and ubiquitous computing. More particularly, it pertains to an infrastructure for a population of disparate computing platforms to readily interface to a service object located in a distributed system to obtain persistent personal messaging.
2. Background
A distributed computer system, such as but not limited to the Internet, is characterized by rapid, real-time interchange among many dissimilar processes executing simultaneously on a large array of dissimilar and geographically diverse processors. A distributed computer system's resources are usually spatially separated, and the execution of its applications often involves multiple execution threads that can be widely separated in time.
Operators for a population of users of client devices compete in a competitive, evolving communication marketplace. It is difficult to satisfy user expectations for various services, especially over distributed computer systems. Often, user expectations are at variance with each other in having different preferred service providers, such as searching. In addition, certain types of content can be segregated in different nodes of a distributed network with proprietary interfaces that frustrate accessing these services.
Client devices are increasingly mobile with communication capabilities as their principal purpose or having wireless communication capabilities to extend connectivity. End users desire to access services with these mobile communication devices that were previously the domain of terminals, work stations, and general purpose computers. The latter devices intended for general purpose computing have had a tendency toward standardization, or at least to accommodate a wide range of usage environments. By contrast, mobile communication devices are progressed with a priority toward economic manufacture, small size and extended battery service life with performance focused on wireless communication rather than processing capabilities. Furthermore, the evolution of broadcast bands and protocols has tended to encourage a proliferation in communication chipsets. As such, offering of various services to users of mobile communication devices has been limited, especially as compared to the larger current market for users of general purpose computers.
A number of obstacles discourage addressing the challenges of deploying services to mobile communication devices as is conventional for a general purpose computer. The communication bandwidth to mobile communication devices is often constrained as compared to broadband channels to general purpose computers, discouraging downloading of interfacing software to properly configure the mobile communication device for various services. Often the user interface of the mobile communication device is severely constrained in size, limiting display size and the number of control buttons that can be presented, further complicating such configuring. Moreover, many users tend to make use of mobile communication devices in situations (e.g., traveling) that do not lend themselves to such focused interaction.
One such function that is complicated by the unique constraints and pattern of usage of mobile devices is instant messaging. Often, a person will use several different instances of an Internet messaging client, such as on a desktop personal computer (PC) at work, on a laptop PC at home and on a mobile device. One problem is that there is no continuity between using the different devices. A conversation with a single person or a group that is started on a client running on the PC is broken and lost once the user switches to the client on the laptop or mobile device.